The Atlanta-based carrier is looking to join other domestic carriers by turning to profitable international routes as a possible way out of the morass swallowing the U.S. industry.

So it made sense that about 50 corporate meeting and travel planners from Europe, India, Latin America and the United States were treated to Kentucky bourbon, Gold Star chili and Graeter's ice cream as part of Delta's Gateway Conference.

"Now, more than ever, we need to promote this airport and this area as a gateway, and maybe even as a meeting destination," said airport marketing director Judy Ingram.

"We're really pushing the advantages of having a non-stop trip. And if they can't have the meeting here, then perhaps they can stay here for a couple of days before they move on.

"And in the end, we are talking about economic development here," said Ingram, pointing out that since trans-Atlantic service started locally in 1987, the number of internationally owned firms with local offices or plants has jumped from about 70 to more than 300.

This is the second time in six years that the local airport has hosted the event, which Delta holds every two years in different hub cities.

Next to Atlanta, Cincinnati - Delta's second-largest hub - has seen the most international growth over the past several years.

Overall, 15 city pairs have gotten new or additional international service from Delta systemwide since the beginning of the year, including Rome and Amsterdam flights locally. Those flights join London-Gatwick, Paris and Frankfurt as European destinations served by CVG.

The airport Sunday opened the extension to the east/west runway that makes it 12,000 feet long - plenty of room to allow fully loaded wide-body jets to reach Asia and Eastern Europe.

Delta, which has lost $6.2 billion in the last three years, is looking to add more international capacity as part of its restructuring plan announced in early September. Delta has backed from that brink for now, but awaits ratification of a concessionary contract by its pilots as it also tries to restructure part of its $20.6 billion debt.

This approach might not appear to make sense, because international flights are more expensive to operate; yet Delta officials say they remain extremely profitable.

That is in direct opposition to domestic flights, which are under extreme price pressure from low-cost carriers and Internet pricing. So airlines such as Delta are going where the money is.

"We have found that people are seeking value in things other than price when it comes to international travel," Delta senior vice president of governmental affairs Scott Yohe said Monday. "They are seeking comfort, service, food and other amenities.

"But this is also part of a macroeconomic trend that is seeing the global economy recover and we are starting to restore the capacity that got taken out of the system" after the 9/11 attacks.

In fact, Delta made some of its deepest cuts internationally following the terror attacks, cutting nearly all its flights to Asia, including a route that left from Cincinnati and made a stop in Los Angeles before continuing on to Nagoya, Japan.

That flight was popular locally due to the presence of Toyota Motor's North American manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger, but Yohe said there are no immediate plans to bring back the flight.

Yohe said that more international flying could be seen out of Cincinnati over the next few years as part of the plan, because the international flights already operated here are very profitable.

Overall, Delta is joining a trend that is seeing an 11 percent growth in international traffic among major domestic carriers so far this year.

The local airport is a major asset as a hub and international gateway for Delta and the region, airline and airport officials stressed Monday.

The event, along with the airport and region in general, turned heads among the international visitors on hand.

"I now book about 70 percent of my clients through Cincinnati, because it can be cost competitive and such a flight can save $1,000 or so," said Siegfried Ruffert, who handles the General Motors account for the American Express office in Frankfurt.

"But even more than that, the people here understand how to make the logistics easy and to have people on hand to help international visitors. A lot of other hubs don't understand that."

Locally based event planner Chris O'Flaherty said the event has already brought in potential business for events and possible travel through Cincinnati.

"I've got the largest travel agency from Spain wanting to talk about future business in the U.S.," said O'Flaherty, Anderson Township-based regional director for Helmsbroscoe of Scottsdale, Ariz., the nation's largest event planning firm. Another person, representing 100 travel agencies in Russia, also wants to talk. "To have this kind of facility to sell and the backing of an airline such as Delta makes all the difference."

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com